Take the Leap
by Herperlo.D
Summary: Harry Potter felt that he was just another unremarkable boy despite his Boy-Who-Lived status, or so he thought, when something remarkable happens to him one day. Someone powerful had sent him an invitation to start a courtship. Now, that must certainly be a joke. Right? A slow burn fic. TR/HP. Major AU, fluff.


Hey guys! I know that I haven't been posting much the whole year, but now I finally had some inspiration! Recently, I had my major examinations and I have about... three more to go, so awesome! For this one, updates won't be very consistent because I don't know where my mind would take me, but I sort of got the general outline in my mind already. Hopefully this burst of inspiration will stay with me until I finish. Crossing fingers tightly.

Right! Now that's over, there is something else I want to say. To **BadassNerd** (cool name btw): No, I haven't forgotten you- even though it's been more than a year. I have a few ideas for that side story, but so far nothing concrete so it's going to take a little while longer before I can put up the one you requested. My mind is annoying like that. (I literally rewrote the first paragraph five times before deleting the whole thing)

So, normal **disclaimers**, none of these characters are my own, yada yada yada... Not betaed so all mistakes are mine. This is going to be **slash **(meaning m/m) in case some of you didn't realise and it's a massive AU so beware. I hope you all like it!

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><p><span>Chapter 1<span>

**8 p.m. 31 October 1981, Potter's Cottage**

It was a cool night on the 31st of October 1981. Lily and James Potter were lying on the floor, playing with their son, young Harry Potter who had just turned one that summer. Both parents, lulled into a false sense of security within the 'impenetrable' Fidelius Charm, had left their wands on the coffee table in front of the sofa, just out of reach. It was important to have both hands free to play with their dear Harry, who was delighted at having the full attention of both his parents, clapping happily at both of them, occasionally pointing at one of his toys.

"Maa, b'oom." He wiggled his little fingers adorably in the direction of his favourite mini toy broom. Lily beamed at her son and picked up the toy, making dramatic _fwoosh_ sounds as she glided it up through the air into his grabbing hands. Harry giggled as he waved his hands as high as he could reach, making _fwoosh_ sounds of his own, cutely pouting his lips with eyebrows scrunched up in concentration as he directed the broom along a path towards a destination only he could see. Feeling something, Harry looked away from his flying adventure to the door and back to his parents, confused as to why they didn't seem to notice that they had someone at the door. Pointing with the hand not holding the broom, little Harry asked,

"Daa, door?" Both Lily and James froze and whipped their heads towards the door, scrambling to stand up as they did so. It was too late. The door blasted inwards, sending sprays of sharp wooden splinters everywhere to admit a tall figure dressed in a long black robe and dark boots.

"Lily, take Harry and go! Run! I'll hold him off!"

Lily scooped young Harry up and ran frantically up the stairs to the baby's room. She placed him in his crib, shushing him shakily with soothing words.

"Alright Harry, just look at Mama. Everything is just fine-". There was a loud crash and a soft thump downstairs, cutting off her words. Lily closed her eyes in grief as she quickly activated the previously drawn runes on the crib and chanted rapidly, well aware of the soft footfalls leading closer to the room. Sweat beaded her face as she finished the hasty spell, which drained her magical core. Young Harry cried out as Lily slumped against the crib, barely having enough energy to hold herself upright. He grabbed her fingers with both of his little hands through the bars of the crib, making distressed noises as he felt something _bad_ coming closer and his Mama felt _wrong_. Pulling at her fingers, young Harry looked between the door and his Mama who smiled at him sadly, folding her whole hand around both of his in comfort. She prayed with all her might that the spell worked. It was her last hope. The door to the room was pushed open slowly, its hinges making an ominous creaking sound.

"Well, what do we have here?" A dark voice rumbled. "Pathetic desperation. Not even the boy downstairs was worth much effort. Pitiful excuses for wizards." The man took a step into the room, taking in the mother and her son with dispassionate eyes.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!" Lily begged, eyes overflowing with tears as she dragged herself up to shield Harry from _his_ sight. Cold blue eyes swept over her shaking form in disgust and flung her to the wall with the flick of his wand. _He_ stepped before the crib, irritably destroying the protective wards around it as easily as shredding paper.

"So pathetic. And to think that you would be my greatest enemy." _He_ mused, chuckling darkly and raised _his_ wand to young Harry's forehead.

"Not Harry! Please no! Kill me instead! He's just a baby!" Lily begged crawling on the floor towards her son desperately. "Not Harry! Please… have mercy… have mercy." She sobbed, grabbing onto the bottom of _his_ robes weakly.

Young Harry sobbed behind the bars of his crib, not liking the awful, _awful_ feeling so close to him. "Maa! Maa!" He cried out. _Where is Mama?_

"Silence, girl! I am letting you have the opportunity to see your son die." _He _sneered. "Unless you want your son's last memory is to be of your death."

"No! No! Please I'm begging you! Have mercy… have mercy…" Lily tugged on _his_ robes one more time, panic and overwhelming helplessness and fear taking over her senses. She could not think straight, could not move, except to do something, _anything_ to save her son.

The last thing she remembered was an annoyed snarl and a flash of sickly green light and a baby screaming, before… Nothing.

Young Harry burst out in tears when he saw Mama fall still, instinctively knowing that he would never see her again. He cried even harder when he felt that _bad, bad_ person come back, poking his head painfully. A murmur of two words and young Harry's world exploded in a blast of sickly green light. Pain, _pain_. Young Harry could not understand. Everything was so painful. _Mama… Dada… Where is Ma? Da?_ There was a loud, angry- so angry- scream and the _bad, bad _person disappeared. The house rumbled around him and started to shake. He heard a loud crack and felt a sharp pain to his head.

Young Harry knew no more.

**HTHTHTHTHTHT**

Rubeus Hagird, a half man, half giant, walked up the front lawn of the Potter Cottage, shortly after young Harry had fallen unconscious. He ducked under the low doorway and went upstairs to the baby's room. Upon reaching the door, Hagrid had to stop and stare in shock at the destruction in front of him. The whole room had been blown apart, the back wall was completely gone, chunks of it littering the back yard. The floor beyond the crib had collapsed onto the kitchen below, scorch marks stained the carpet black and grey and the once cheery yellow walls were singed and cracked. Hagrid stepped carefully into the room, wary of the weak support under his feet and hurried to the crib where he found young Harry sleeping soundly on a pillow and a pile of black robes on the floor. Hagrid cradled his precious cargo in a big, broad hand and went downstairs again, only to find Sirius Black on the front porch, knuckles white around the rim of his helmet.

"Is it true? Are they really-" Sirius looked away, unable to finish the thought.

"Aye, only found 'arry in his crib. No one else." Hagrid replied solemnly, sadness evident in every word. Sirius' face crumpled, his expression a mix of grief and anger. "I need ta get 'arry 'ere to Dumbledore, to safety. Dumbledore said the muggles would be 'ere soon." Hagrid continued, bringing the precious bundle closer to his chest. Sirius stayed silent, eyes flicked from the baby in Hagird's hands to his helmet.

"Take my bike. I won't need it anymore." He said finally. He cast a last look of longing to the baby, fingers twitching as if wanting to touch and transformed into a great black dog. The large beast bounded down the dimly lit street and disappeared into the night. The helmet was gone before it touched the ground.

Sirens wailed in the distance, spurring Hagrid to get onto the bike while carefully balancing young Harry against the crook of his elbow. At a push of a button, Hagrid left Godric's Hollow through the sky with a loud rumble, young Harry slumbering in his arms peacefully the entire time, his red lightning bolt scar gleaming on his forehead.

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><p>Dun Dun Dun... Who is that bad, bad man? Hmmm...<p>

Things in this universe is a bit different than the original, but the shouting and begging and most of the dialogue is cut and pasted from the book. If you are wondering about the different-form-canon things, for those who had spotted them, they will be explained in the future chapters. Baby!Harry is so adorable! Well, at least in my mind.

I'm planning to edit my old fics a bit for like spelling/grammar/OOC characters. I'll tell you guys when I do. Sucks that now I can't just copy my whole fic onto a new document. I don't remember where my original document is...

Well, I hope you guys found chapter 1 interesting. Don't be afraid to drop a review. I'll try to answer all of them. I've got to run now, sleep awaits me.


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